


Another Place to Fall

by Catolyn



Series: Leading With My Heart [7]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Flirting, Friends to Lovers, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-31
Updated: 2013-01-31
Packaged: 2017-11-27 15:48:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/663753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catolyn/pseuds/Catolyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve gets more advice from Bruce about modern dating. </p><p>Darcy subjects Jane to shoe shopping. </p><p>And Steve and Darcy actually go out to dinner, but get sided tracked before they can watch a movie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Place to Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Mistakes are all my own.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own none of these characters, I'm just borrowing them for my own nefarious purposes.
> 
> Rating for make-outs & mild language.

Steve called Pepper as soon as he finished his morning run. Pepper was only too pleased to offer suggestions for where to take Darcy for dinner. By the time he’d gotten off the phone Pepper had her PA making a reservation for seven that evening at her favorite Italian place for Steve and Darcy. “They have the best pasta I’ve ever had outside of Italy.” was Pepper’s endorsement. Steve figured if anyone would know, Pepper with her business worldly ways would know.

He went through the rest of usual morning routine; sparring and training with Clint and Natasha as well as a few other agents at SHIELD until the afternoon. And then meeting with Maria Hill to discuss recent Stark suggested improvements to field tech. He found himself back at the tower shortly after lunch at loose ends. 

Having taken care of dinner, or at least gotten help with the dinner reservation, Steve realized he really didn’t have any idea how to take Darcy on a date. And he was drawing a total blank on any of the bits of advice relating to the fairer sex that Bucky had tried to impart to him. Beside, he was pretty sure a lot of the advice wouldn’t really relate to Darcy. After thinking about who to ask about acceptable dating practices he finally decided to track down Bruce, in the hope that the scientist could shed some light on dating in the modern world. 

Steve found Bruce in his lab, scowling at a complex set of equations being projected in the air. “Bruce? I don’t suppose you have a minute?”

Bruce ran a hand through his hair, frizzing it out. “Hey Steve. Yeah, I have a minute, I can use a break from this problem anyway. I think I’m going to have to punt this over to Tony and Jane for their input. How can I help?” 

“I asked Darcy out to dinner on a date.” began Steve.

“That’s great!” exclaimed Bruce.

Steve rubbed the back of his neck and looked sheepish, “Yeah, except I realized half way between sparring with Natasha and delivering a report to Agent Hill that I don’t actually know how to take a girl out on a date. I really just wanted to know if there was anything I should really avoid doing.”

Drily Bruce replied, “Don’t act like Tony and I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

Steve rolled his eyes at his friend. “I usually assume that’s a given, Bruce. I was more hoping for a crash course to dating in the twenty-first century.” 

Bruce looked at Steve over the top of his glasses. “You do remember that I’m really not the best person to ask right? I mean I haven’t been on a date in... well a very long time.”

“Look, I just want to know if she’s going to throw water on me if I pull out her chair or pay for dinner.”

“Hmm... Well I’ve opened doors for Darcy and she hasn’t kicked me in the shins or told me not to. Of course all things being equal she could just be humoring me because of the other guy, but I don’t think so. So I’m going to guess she won’t walk out on you if you open a door or pull out her chair. A lot of people go dutch on the first date.” Bruce caught Steve’s distraught expression. “But if you want to pay for dinner just offer to when the check comes. If she has a problem with it she’ll say something. Darcy isn’t known for keeping the peace when she has an opinion. If she wants to split the bill, split the bill. Then ask her if you can treat her next time.”

Steve nodded and took a deep breath. “Alright. Um. I think I can manage that.”

Bruce eyed Steve critically. “Out with it Rogers.”

“Er?” was Steve’s less than clever reply.

“You’ve spent enough time around Darcy to figure that one out on your own. So clearly you have a different question you want advice on, which is why you’re standing my lab looking like you expect a lion to jump out of my supply closet and eat you.” Bruce took off his glasses and began cleaning them.

Steve looked at the supply closet in question, startled, and then back at Bruce, embarrassed. “Look I don’t know anything about how people do things these days. I don’t know what she’s going to, erm, expect.”

Bruce stopped cleaning his glasses and gave Steve a look that was somewhere between arch and amused. “Are you asking me what I think you are?”

“Um. Maybe? I’m more or less caught up on history. And it’s hard to miss that attitudes about some things have changed. A lot. Not to say that people didn’t have sex when I was in the army or that they didn’t do it when they weren’t married. But...” he trailed off, clearly foundering.

“Are you worried that Darcy’s going to expect you to take her to bed?” Steve just blushed harder. “You should say no - if you don’t want to that is.” was Bruce’s firm answer. “Or are you worried you want to? Really I need more to work with than mortified and day-glow red.”

Steve folded himself into one of the chairs in the lab. “I usually want to take a gal out to dinner more than once.”

Bruce blinked at the implication.

Steve’s glare lacked any real weight. “I swear one of these days I’m going throw Tony and Clint off the side of the tower for all their jokes about me being a virgin.”

Bruce collected himself. “So if she tries to take you to bed just tell her you want to get to know her better. Darcy doesn’t strike me as the kind of girl to appreciate sugar coating.”

“I... You’re right. I’m being stupid about this. I... I _like_ her. I like her a lot. I don’t want her to write me off because of something I just don’t understand because I missed seventy years.”

“Steve, if you hadn’t missed seventy years we wouldn’t be having this conversation so it’s a little moot don’t you think?” Steve made a sound that Bruce interpreted to indicate agreement. “Look either it’ll work out with you two because you figure out what you have in common, compromise on what’s different, and laugh when you screw up or you won’t. Stop putting the cart in front of the horse and focus on having a nice dinner. Go from there.”

Steve gave Bruce a wry smile. “That is remarkably zen of you.”

Bruce snorted, his attitude clearly expressing what he thought of Steve using that particular expression.

“I had Clint explain the concept to me. I think it fits.” 

Bruce waved a hand at him. “Eh, whatever. Go on stop brooding and get out of my lab. I have science to do.”

Steve stood up and clapped Bruce on the shoulder. “Thanks. And if you can manage to not mention this to Tony I’d be thankful.”

Bruce quirked the corner of his mouth, “I am the very heart and soul of discretion.”

Steve left the lab while Bruce turned his glasses over his hands before putting them back on and wondered what his life was becoming when he was providing romantic and dating advice to the man out of time.

\--

Darcy sailed into Jane’s lab in good cheer. “Good morning sunshine!” she said chipperly to Jane.

Jane gave her assistant a frankly disbelieving look. “You are entirely too awake, especially considering the time stamp on your last email.”

Checking the time on her phone, just to be sure she hadn’t somehow fallen back in time, “Um, honey, it’s like ten in the morning.”

Jane rolled her eyes, “My point exactly. Anyway. Unless you need to finish the filing you were doing last night, I don’t think there’s much for you to do today. Actually there isn’t much for _me_ to do for that matter. The compiler for my latest project is still running and that won’t be done till... Jarvis? When with that compiler be done?”

“I estimate completion in approximately four hours and twenty-seven minutes. Give or take.”

“Right then, I won’t have anything to science until then.”

“Didn’t you have some super-secret thing you were working on with Tony and Bruce?” Darcy asked.

“We do, but Tony’s decided to fuck off to Munich with Pepper. Something about beer. And we were working up in his lab so he’ll be seriously butt-hurt if Bruce and I go all science bros without him.” Jane’s eye roll clearly expressed what she thought of Tony abandoning a project in favor of German beer.

“So what you’re saying is that you’re totally free for the rest of the day and you can totally be my shopping buddy so I can go find shoes to go with my blue dress for my date with Steve tonight?” said Darcy with a sly grin.

“No. I’m pretty sure that’s most definitely _not_ what I’m saying Darce.”

“Not even if I pout?” 

“Augh! No puppy eyes! Don’t do that! God, can’t you use your powers for good or something?” Jane flapped her hands at Darcy, trying to avert her eyes from her friends masterful use of puppy eyes.

“I am Jane. It is for the powers of good that I need shoes for my date tonight.”

Jane huffed at her friend, “Fine, but if we go to more than two shoe stores, you have to buy me lunch. More than three shoe stores and you’re buying me lunch AND ice cream.”

Darcy planted her hands on her hips and mock glared at her friend, “You drive a hard bargain Jane Foster.”

“I have to, otherwise you’d walk all over me, harness the power of the bifrost to rule the world, and become an evil genius.”

Darcy grumbled and she grabbed her bag, “Why is everyone so convinced I’m an evil overlord in training?”

Jane grinned at her, playfully, “Because you majored in a ‘soft’ science. Clearly the sign of a deranged mind.”

By the time Darcy found the perfect shoes to go with her midnight blue dress she’d bought Jane lunch, ice cream, _and_ a coffee.

\--

Steve stood outside Darcy’s door at five minutes to six, seized with a sudden indecision. He’d gone out shortly after his talk with Bruce, just to walk and clear his head. On his way back to the tower he’d passed a little flower stand, and on a whim stopped. Even though it was the twenty-first century men still bought flowers, right? The little old lady who ran the stand had asked him a few perfunctory questions when it seemed he was unable to decide on a bouquet before shoving a paper wrapped parcel of some lovely, brightly colored things that she’d assured him were dahlia’s. Now standing outside Darcy’s door he was doubting his purchase. He checked his watch and sighed. He wouldn’t have time to go up to his room and ditch the flowers if he didn’t want to be late. _Way to man up Rogers_ he thought before knocking on her door.

When she opened her door his mouth went dry and his thoughts flew clear out of his head. She was wearing a short sleeved dark blue dress that belted smartly at the waist, the full skirt falling to just past her knees. She’d done something with her hair so that it was half up and half down. And she wasn’t wearing her glasses, so of course those were the first words out of his mouth, “What happened to your glasses?”

She laughed, tossing back her hair a little, “Contact lenses are a wonderful invention Steve.” Noticing the bouquet in his hands she reached out, making a little ‘gimme’ gesture with her hands. “Ooh! Are those for me? They’re gorgeous!”

Belatedly realizing she was reaching for the flowers in his hands he presented them to her with a chaste kiss on the cheek. “I wasn’t sure what you’d like.”

“Come on in.” she said with an easy smile. “Let me put these in water and we can go.” As Darcy fussed, getting the flowers in water, one of the stems snapped. “Well crap. That always happens.”

“Here, let me.” and he picked up the flower with its now too short stem and carefully threaded it into her hair. He could feel the warmth of her body as he stood close to her.

Darcy felt her heart skip a beat and her breathing hitch. “Watch it. Or I’m going to swoon right here. And then we’ll never get to dinner. I’ll probably even hit my head on the way down and give myself a concussion.”

He smiled, shyly at her. “Is that something women in the twenty-first century still do? Swoon?”

“It sure as hell is when handsome six foot tall superheroes in perfectly tailored suits put flowers in their hair.” was her playful retort.

“I’m six-two.”

She smirked, breaking the tension slightly. “Well no wonder I thought I needed three inch heels for tonight.” Picking up her jacket and purse she grinned. “Come on, lets blow this taco taco truck, I’m starving.”

“Taco truck?” he asked, opening the door.

She followed him into the hall and locked the door behind them “Sort of like a popsicle stand, only a food truck with tacos. Hmm - now that I think about it, I wonder if that’s a Bay Area thing? There’s a whole weird gourmet food truck thing in the Bay Area. If you can find the right one you can either get the best grilled cheese of your life or a really amazing bowl of ramen. Aaand I’m doing it again. Babbling.” 

He offered her his arm and they made their way down the hall to the elevator. “It’s okay. I don’t mind. But I’ve got to ask. Where did you grow up?” Steve felt embarrassed when he realized that he’d never once asked her where she’d lived growing up.

“Oh! Bay Area - the area surrounding San Francisco Bay. I’m a California Girl. I grew up east of San Francisco in Berkeley.” she smiled sheepishly. “I always assume my California-ness is obvious. So, where are we going?”

Steve blushed, the tops of his ears turning pink. “I didn’t know of anywhere nice, so I asked Pepper where I should take you. She had her assistant make us reservations at her favorite Italian place. I hope that’s okay? We should be able to get a cab downstairs, I had Jarvis send me the address.”

She smiled reassuringly, “Well if it’s Pepper’s favorite place the food is bound to be delicious.”

They lapsed into a comfortable silence as they rode the elevator down and flagged a cab. On their way to the restaurant Steve suddenly spoke, “Me ‘n Bucky always talked about going to California. Though we usually talked about going to Hollywood. Have you ever been?”

“I went to So-Cal plenty of times growing up. Especially over Easter break my parents would take me to Disneyland. But we never did the Hollywood touristy thing. I used to _love_ Disneyland. It was always a huge treat you know? We’d get in the car and drive down. Stay in some dinky little motel a few blocks from the park. It was fun. One spring we went down to San Diego so we could go to Sea World because I’d begged and begged to do something different than Disneyland.” her voice was light, but Steve could see a shadow of sadness lurking in her eyes. “What about you? Where did you go for trips when you were a kid?”

“My ma died when I was ten, so I went to the orphanage. I still spent most of my free time with Bucky though. We’d sell tin scrap to earn a little money and go to Coney Island to raise hell.” his smile was a little distant with fond memories. 

Darcy reached out, covering one of his hands in hers. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you’d lost your mother.” Hesitantly she asked, “What about your father?”

Steve shrugged matter of factly, “He left when I was small. A lot of men left their families during the depression to look for work. He left and didn’t come back. But between the sisters at the orphanage and Bucky’s mom and aunts I got taken pretty good care of after ma passed. I was so scrawny then I think they took it as a personal insult that I didn’t put on weight and grow.”

She gave him an appraising once over. “Well I’ll just have to take your word on the ‘scrawny’ thing. I still have trouble believing it.”

“Honestly, I still have trouble believing I’m not.” was his wry reply.

They were interrupted from further conversation by arrival at their destination. Steve had his wallet out and was reaching for a bill when he suddenly turned to Darcy, “Is it alright if I get things tonight?”

Darcy paused, usually she insisted on at splitting things on a first date. It seemed more fair and cut down in incidents of entitled jerks thinking a meal meant she was putting out; but between the look of uncertainty on Steve’s face and remembering what Jane had said about letting Steve be a little old fashioned if they went out she decided to relax her usual rule. So she smiled and said. “Yeah, it’s fine.” Besides, she doubted Steve would ever be the kind of douche-canoe to try the ‘I bought dinner, so you should put out.’ tactic. She looked at him, sidelong, as they walked in to the restaurant she thought _And more’s the pity..._

Pepper’s PA must have said something when he booked the reservation because they ended up in a nicely out of the way table with a very attentive waiter. After a bit of debate on dishes they ordered an appetizer and entrees. Darcy asked for the wine pairing for her dish and deciding that she must know what she was doing, Steve followed suit.

Steve watched Darcy in the warm, low, light of the restaurant and wished he had his sketchbook.

“What are you thinking about when you look at me like that?” she asked.

“Like what?”

“Like you’re trying to commit me to memory because you’re afraid I’m going to disappear.”

“Because I am. Trying to commit you to memory. I was wishing I had my sketchbook because the lighting in here is interesting. And because you look fantastic sitting there sipping wine with a flower in your hair.”

She blushed, “Jane was right.”

He gave her a skeptical look. “About what exactly?”

“That you’re the nicest person in pretty much ever.”

He laughed, “I’m not nice, I think all kinds of not nice things. Especially about Tony.”

Making a face she said, “I think Tony goes out of his way to inspire thoughts of mayhem and chaos. It’s like a hobby or something for him. I’m just waiting for the day he gives into his baser nature and becomes an evil overlord.”

Their conversation flowed easily from what Steve was doing when he wasn’t lurking around the tower (public appearances in uniform as Captain America) to Darcy’s nascent plans for her future as something other than Jane’s dutiful lab minion. 

By the time their appetizer arrived Darcy was keeping a list of books she thought he should read. “Seriously, I get that there’s history you need to understand, but there’s been a lot of good fiction that’s worth reading that’ll give you a lot of other insights. Also, you’ll stop looking at Tony funny when he calls Clint ‘Katniss’.”

Halfway through their entrees and a second glass of wine she exclaimed “What? You haven’t seen Star Wars? How is that even possible living in a building with Tony Freaking Stark, one of the biggest geeks in the world?”

“Well the title was sort of a turn-off. I’m not a big fan of war movies.” 

She blinked, nonplussed for a moment. “Okay, I get that. But, augh, this is hard to explain. It’s not really a war movie. I mean there are fights but its really a science fiction retelling of the hero’s journey.” Seeing Steve’s blank look she rephrased. “Hero’s journey, a coming of age story. Regular guy finds out he has a great destiny, gets a mentor, fights an evil empire, discovers great personal power, strikes a win for the rebellion, and all that jazz. Only in Star Wars there are aliens, robots, and a mythic power called ‘the force’.”

“Oh! Is _that_ what everyone means when they say ‘May the force be with you.’? That _never_ made any sense.”

“Where did you hear that? No, wait, let me guess: Tony, Bruce, and Jane doing something unspeakable with science where they shouldn’t be doing science. I swear I’m just waiting for those three to be declared a menace to national security or something.” Darcy shook her head. “Anyway, we should watch Star Wars. It’s got a ton of pop-culture stuff that will probably make a lot of Tony’s jokes make sense. At least his jokes that aren’t bordering the line of good taste. And we should only watch the first three movies, which for some entirely assed reason that only George Lucas understands are episodes four, five, and six.” She paused again. “You’re looking at me like that again. I swear we’re never going on another date without giving you something to draw with.”

He coughed, slightly embarrassed, “Another date?”

Her smile was brilliant and she was feeling a little loose from the wine. “Assuming I haven’t run you off by trying to plan your next six months of media immersion.” 

He threw his head back and laughed. “Darcy, you may be a force of nature, but you’re hardly frightening.”

“You may change your mind if you ever see me first thing in the morning.” her tone was dry, but the corners of her mouth were turned up.

He reached across the table and took her hand, “Somehow, I doubt that.”

She glanced away, trying to control the feeling that her heart had turned into a hummingbird that was trying to escape. 

Darcy let Steve finish her pasta, which was an amazing concoction of pesto and thick flat noodles. She picked a dessert to share, a decadent chocolate mousse. The look of pure bliss on her face as her eyes fluttered closed on the first bite sent Steve’s thoughts spinning, wondering what else would make her eyes fall shut or elicit such a throaty moan of pleasure. Certain he was blushing to the roots of his hair he met her lidded gaze as she smiled and slowly licked chocolate from the corner of her lips.

Eventually the dessert dish stood empty between them and she spoke, “I didn’t know when we’d be done with dinner so I didn’t really look at any movies, and I wasn’t sure what you’d like. Do you think you’d maybe like to go back to the tower and we can try watching Star Wars.” seeing the indecision on his face she continued, “At my place, so we don’t have to contend with everyone in the common room?”

He grinned at her “Popcorn?”

“After that meal your _still_ hungry?” she said utterly disbelieving.

He winked, “There’s always room for popcorn.”

Steve paid for their dinner and they stepped outside to hail a cab. As they stood together on the sidewalk Steve tentatively slipped his arm around her waist, Darcy stepped closer to him, tucking herself against his side. 

Back at the tower Darcy unlocked her door and invited Steve in with a smile. “Go ahead and make yourself comfortable on the couch, I’ll make some popcorn.”

Steve watched her from the couch as she pulled out a package of microwave popcorn, put it in, set the time, and pushed start. “I can’t quite get used to popcorn out of a machine like that in a paper bag.”

Darcy got out a bowl for the popcorn and some napkins. “Welcome to living in the future. I figure it’s a mixed bag. You get such awesome amenities as the internet and microwave popcorn. Of course it does have its downsides like gridlock traffic and Twilight. Overall I’d like to think it balances out in the long run.” Anticipating his question she barreled on. “Just trust me on the Twilight thing. You’ll be happier if you do.”

Steve chuckled, “Any other things in the plus or minus column for living in the future?”

“Hmm... well I’d have to go with advances in modern medicine for the plus column. In the minus, environmental pollution. Not sure if those really balance the scales though, I figure it’s more of an on average thing.” The microwave beeped and she pulled the finished bag out and dumped the contents into the bowl before joining Steve on the couch. 

Setting the bowl on the little coffee table she settled in beside him, tucking herself under his right arm, snug against his side. He looked down at her, a little startled, and she leaned up to kiss him. He drew his arm across her shoulders, pulling her in close. She drew back slowly and gave him a slow, lazy smile. “I’ve been thinking about doing that all evening.”

“Yeah?” he asked, his voice low.

“Mmmhmm... Oh, yeah.“

“Well it’s not polite to keep a lady waiting.” and he bent down to capture her lips again. He decided he loved the feeling of her hair, soft and heavy, in his hands as he kissed her. She brushed his lips with her tongue, seeking to deepen their kiss. She made a quiet whimpering sound as his tongue met hers.

They kissed, a slow teasing dance that had Darcy convinced she was going to combust. She could feel the liquid heat curling low her her belly. Somehow they shifted and she was sitting across his lap as they kissed, one strong arm around her waist holding her steady.

Steve began to experiment by running fingers tips along the shell edge of her ear, down the side of her neck and along her exposed collarbone, and back again. The breathy whine of pleasure as she exhaled encouraged him to try again on her other side. In retaliation she wiggled a little in his lap and grinned wickedly as she heard him bite back a moan.

“Steve?” she began a bit breathlessly.

“What is it?” his eyes were unfocused and a bit vague.

“If you want to still watch the movie you need to stop kissing me like that. Or you can _keep_ kissing me like that, but we aren’t going to watch the movie.”

“You know what? Screw the movie.” he muffled her laugher with another toe curling kiss.

Her arms were around his neck and his hand was on her knee, thumb scribing small concentric circles on her skin under her skirt when they came up for air again. “God, you’re beautiful.”

She wrinkled her nose at him, “I’m the one who can’t see six inches past the end of her nose without vision correction. But are you sure you don’t need your eyes checked?” 

“You are though. Really and amazingly beautiful.”

“I... thank you.” Darcy blushed and looked down at her lap, suddenly confused. Half a minute ago she’d been trying to decide the best way to get Steve into bed and now she was blushing like she was sixteen.

“I’d like to keep kissing you for a while before I go home, if that’s alright.” his expression was guarded, as though he wasn’t sure what she’d say.

Darcy bit her lip, momentarily disappointed, but decided there was plenty of time to scandalize Steve later by trying to take him to bed. After all she’d practically propositioned him once and he’d still asked her out. She was fairly sure that if he wasn’t at least interested in things going further he wouldn’t have come into her apartment after dinner. So she settled for darting in for a quick kiss and saying, “It’s more than alright, and you can stay as long as you like.” before threading her fingers through his hair and bringing him down for a thorough kiss.

Kissing Steve was utterly unlike kissing any of the other men or college boys she’d kissed and thought about taking to bed before. More often than not their hands would creep up to cup a breast, or down to cradle her ass. Steve was so polite that his hands never strayed up her leg any higher than her knee or more than an inch above or below her waist. At first she’d found it a bit charming, now she was finding it a bit frustrating. His hands were large and warm and she was entirely sure she wanted to feel them all over her body.

She was exploring the curve of his ear with her lips, trying to catalogue all the different ways his breathing changed when she breathed just _there_ or licked like _so_ when she felt him slide his hand from her waist and up her back, his fingertips playing in the hair at the nape of her neck. She shuddered a little bit at the sensation of his hand moving along her body and his fingers playing against the sensitive skin. His hand stilled. “Is that okay?”

“If anything isn’t okay, I’ll tell you, I promise, but you can keep doing that. I like the way you touch me.” 

“Then it’s good that I like touching you.” and he pressed a kiss just below her ear along her jaw. She gasped, her hands clenching into fists, grasping his shirt. He tried again on the other side to see if it would elicit the same reaction.

Darcy could feel her laughter bubbling up. “I’m starting to think you might just be a bit of a tease Steve Rogers.”

“A tease?” she could hear the current of laughter in his voice.

“Yes.” she said primly. “A tease.”

Seriously he replied, “My ma told me teasing wasn’t nice.”

She grinned and elbowed him lightly. “I didn’t say I minded. Just that you seem to like getting a reaction.”

The grin he gave her was practically salacious and Darcy was pretty sure if the press ever saw it they’d immediately lose their ‘golden boy’ opinion of Captain America. He kissed her again, leaving them both breathless.

Pressing his forehead to hers he said reluctantly, “I should go. Before things get out of hand.” he cut Darcy off with a quick kiss. “It’s not that I don’t _want_ to get out of hand. Because with the way you kiss... out of hand sounds awfully good right now. I just want to for the right reasons, not because it seems like a good idea at the time.”

Darcy let out a gusty sigh and replied without venom, “Damn you Steve Rogers. Damn you for being the most morally upright, decent man to have ever been born.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt the need to thank someone for trying to damn me.” and he grudgingly let go of her waist so she could get up.

Darcy stood and offered him a hand to help him to his feet. “Well that’s me all over, contradictory to the core.”

“Keeps me on my toes.” he replied without rancor.

“I had a really good time tonight.”

“I did too. Can I see you tomorrow?”

“I think I’m back in the lab with Jane tomorrow, but I should be able to slip out for lunch after one.” 

“I’ll come by then and see if you’re free?”

“It’s a date. Only probably without that excellent mousse.” she said with a wink and leaned up to kiss him.

His arms tightened around her waist as he pulled her against him with a groan.

“I’d better let you go.” she whispered hoarsely. “If I don’t I’m going to end up making a complete fool of myself.”

At the door he kissed her again until they were clinging to each other. “I’ll just, um, go. Yeah. I’ll just go now. Good night Darcy. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She leaned against the door frame and smiled at him. “G’night, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Darcy closed the door before she could grab him by the hand, drag him back into her apartment, and down the hall to her bedroom. 

Leaning against the closed door she wondered if she had enough batteries because she couldn’t remember ever being this worked up before and not hauling the object of her desire off to bed for mutually satisfying, sweaty sex.


End file.
